Off-Road Races

Off-Road Races is an exciting and adrenalin filled discipline of motor sport and is growing in stature with increasing competitor numbers each year. On closed course off road tracks, drivers battle each other and the conditions for the win. Competitors attend these rounds from every state with most events incorporating a round of their State Championship which attracts local competitors, sponsors and spectators.

Off-road racing was founded in the early 20th century. The first early racing headquarters in USA was the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) based by Ed Pearlman. The first off-road race was the event across the Mexican desert, called the Mexican 1000, later known as the Baja 1000. USA has several off-road disciplines: such as Crandon International Off-Road Raceway – races on a circuit of less than five miles headed by CORR and World Series of Off-Road Racing (WSORR). Almost all events arranged by WSORR usually take place on short tracks (1 1/2 mile or less), that contain various radius turns, jumps, gravel traps and washboards. Another off-road format is stadium racings, were off-road cars are participating on a temporary constructed off-road tracks inside stadiums. Also off-road events include hill climbing and other types of races that are not designed for regular paved tracks. A popular format at many county fairs is called Tough Truck competition. These tracks are usually much shorter, and competitors make individual timed runs.

Xtreme 4×4 is a half hour series that began in January 2005. The show uses a how-to formula, where the drivers build or modify vehicles in order to turn them into off-road-oriented rigs. They also periodically show various forms of off-road racing from across the United States. These include such events as desert racing, rock crawling, mud racing, sand drags and trail riding adventures. Off-road vehicles need several characteristics to be able to drive off the pavement. Not to sink in soft ground they need to have a low ground pressure, not to get hung up on obstacles they need to have great ground clearance and not to lose traction they need to keep their tracks or wheels on the ground.

Most off-road vehicles are equipped with special low gearing. This allows the driver to make the most of the engine’s available power, while moving through challenging terrain slowly without scratching their truck grills. A combustion engine coupled to a normal gearbox often has a too high output speed to be usable. The vehicle has one of two truck accessories: an additional gearbox in-line with the first, called a reduction drive or a very low first gear. All off-road vehicles have all wheel drive, in order to keep traction on slippery surfaces, although this may be switchable so that the vehicle has fewer driven wheels when on the road.

One of the most famous off-road races is The Dakar Rally, previously known as “The Paris-Dakar”. It is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, arranged by the ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation). The race is open to amateur and professional entries. Amateurs typically make up about eighty percent of the participants. Most races since the foundation in 1978 were held from Paris in France to Dakar in Senegal, but due to political instability in Africa, the 2009 Dakar Rally was arranged in South America. It was the first time the race took place outside the Europe and Africa. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometers per day. Despite its name it is an off-road endurance race, called a rally-raid rather than a regular rally — the terrain the competitors traverse is much tougher and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than the modified sedans used in rallies.